The third and final KCF Africa sponsored Millionaire Chess satellite tournament concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday 20th July. The series of African satellite tournaments came about as a result of a unique collaboration between the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa and Millionaire Chess and has had a massive impact as a development initiative on the African continent.
More than 500 players from 14 separate African federations participated between the 3 tournaments that made up the series. The winners of each leg qualified for the main event which will take place in Las Vegas from 12 of October 2015!
1st Satellite Tournament – Nairobi, Kenya
It all started at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya where the inaugural event was comfortably won by FM Harold Wanyama from Uganda!
Harold recorded an impressive total of 7.5 / 8 and eventually ended a full 1.5 points clear of the field. Lawrence Kagambi, Mowlid Ahmed, Joseph Atwoli and Kenneth Omolo all tied for second but a long way back on 6 / 8.
The Nairobi tournament saw nearly 200 players participating across the various events which included a junior section and an open section played in parallel with the main event.
Amy Lee of Millionaire Chess (centre) attended this event and is flanked here by Githinji Hinga (Chairman of Chess Kenya), Graham Jurgensen (Executive Director of Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa), Satish Deshpande (Tournament Director), and FM Harold Wanyama (Overall Winner) in the press conference post the event. Photo by Kim Bhari
2nd Satellite Tournament – Lagos, Nigeria
The second event was held in Lagos, Nigeria and this produced the first playoff in the series.
No one would have picked unrated Oluwadurotimi Lapite as one of the pre-tournament favourites but he played the event of his life to force a play-off with experience IM Bunmi Olape.
The first playoff game was drawn, but the second was decided when Lapite was flagged in an otherwise equal position. This handed his opponent the hard earned trip to Las Vegas.
The Lagos tournament saw almost 150 players participating across the various events and also earned first ratings for no less than 19 previously unrated players.
IA Obinna Ogbonnaya laying down the rules before the Lagos playoffs between Oluwadurotimi Lapite and eventual winner IM Bunmi Olape
3rd Satellite Tournament – Johannesburg, South Africa
The third satellite event produced a sensational 3 way play-off which was ultimately won by IM Providence Oatlhotse from Botswana. Providence overcame IM Johannes Mabusela (South Africa) and IM Chitumbo Mwali (Zambia) in a tense play-off which required both rapid and then blitz matches to break the tie.
The South African tournament was held at Monte Casino which is part of the Tsogo Sun Group and the high class venue produced a fitting finale to a highly successful series. The full series was a truly African affair and ultimately had players from South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia participating in at least one of the events.
The playing facilities at Monte Casino in Johannesburg were excellent and were complimented by all participants. Photos by Reint Dykema
The South African event also recorded a major milestone for African chess when the top 27 boards were carried live on Chess24.com. This gave many of the participants their first opportunity to play with DGT electronic boards streaming the games live and this experience will no doubt stand them in good stead for future international events.
Action was followed by over 3500 unique viewers at https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/tsogo-sun-2015
The eyes of the African continent will now no doubt be on the three champions in October as they take on the likes of GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Fabiano Curuana and GM Wesley So in Las Vegas.
With more than $40,000 on offer for rating category winners in the main event, the three victors have earned themselves a shot at a major pay-day if they play well in the main tournament. We wish them all the best of luck and will be following with interest.
Final standings for all 3 events:
Kenya: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr171512.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=8&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984
Nigeria: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr176975.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&wi=821
South Africa: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr179449.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&wi=821
Games from all 3 events
South Africa: http://www.chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?lan=1&id=50023&tnr=179449&art=3
Nigeria: http://ratings.fide.com/view_games.phtml?event=116380
Kenya: http://www.chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?lan=1&id=50023&tnr=171512&art=3
Videos from all 3 events
Nigeria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTzz8zIg4Iw
Kenya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGnAwyE3ImE
South Africa: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tsogo+Sun+Millionaire+Chess+
About the author:
Graham Jurgensen is the Executive Director of the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant by profession and held senior financial positions in South Africa before joining the Kasparov Chess Foundation in a full time capacity in June 2014.
He is a Candidate Master level player and an FIDE International Organiser who currently works with numerous African chess federations, helping them run and manage their major local events. He is actively driving the rollout of the MiniChess program in Africa and also assisting national chess federations to embed business models which help them generate sustainable income from their local chess activities.
FM Harold Wanyama (UGA) IM Olape Bunmi (NIG) IM Providence Oatlhotse (BOT) – our representatives in Las Vegas!